Silver medalist, Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States is congratulated by Lindsey Vonn of the United States during the Ladies' Alpine Combined on day thirteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Yongpyong Alpine Centre on February 22, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.

US wins 1st gold in women’s cross-country skiing

The United States has won its first Olympic gold medal in women’s cross-country skiing, and Norwegian skier Marit Bjoergen has become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time by taking bronze at the Pyeongchang Games.

The Americans posted the fastest time in the semifinals to start on the front row in the finals Wednesday. Jessica Diggins passed the Swedes and the Norwegians on the final lap to make history in a major upset.

Sweden took silver. Bjoergen and teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla won the bronze medal.

Noora Raty has stopped 20 shots to lead Finland to a 3-2 victory over the Russians in the women’s hockey bronze medal game at the Olympics.

Petra Nieminen, Susanna Tapani and Linda Valimaki scored for Finland, which can claim to be the best of the rest in a sport dominated by North Americans.

Following up their bronze medals in 1998 and 2010, the Finns beat Russia 5-1 in pool play but had a tougher go in the medal round. The teams were even in shots — 22-22 — but the Russians never led after falling behind 2-0 off the opening faceoff of the second period.

(KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images)

3

Russia men’s hockey team beats Norway 6-1

The Russian men’s hockey team has swept aside Norway 6-1 to set up a semifinal against the Czech Republic.

Russia charged to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period, outshooting Norway 19-2, and remained in control throughout the game as chants of “Red Machine” and “Russia” echoed around the half-empty Gangneung Hockey Center.

Nikita Gusev finished with a goal and two assists, while Slava Voynov had a goal and an assist.

Advertisement

(Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

4

Brady Leman earns gold for Canada in men’s skicross

Brady Leman has earned gold for Canada in men’s skicross, beating Switzerland’s Marc Bischofberger in a wild final at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Leman took the lead early during Wednesday’s last round and then held off Bischofberger in a two-man duel after Canada’s Kevin Drury and Russian athlete Sergey Ridzik collided early on.Ridzik picked himself up and raced down for bronze.

AP Photo/John Locher

5

US can't catch up to Canada

American speedskaters Jonathan Garcia, Brian Hansen and Emery Lehman finished well behind Canada in the D final of the men's team pursuit. U.S. skaters Jonathan Garcia, Brian Hansen and Emery Lehman finished at 3 minutes, 50.77 seconds, which was 8.61 seconds behind the Canadians.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E

6

German sledders dominating

Germany has five golds in eight sledding events after Mariama Jamanka won in women's bobsledding. American Elana Meyers Taylor took silver for the third consecutive Olympics, finishing just 0.07 seconds behind Jamanka.

Advertisement

Photo by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Image

7

USA, Canada face off for women’s hockey gold

The Americans are back for another chance at the Olympic gold medal that has eluded them since women’s hockey debuted in 1998 at Nagano.

They will play archrival Canada, four years after the Canadians rallied from two goals down to shock the Americans in the gold-medal game in Sochi.

Also Thursday, three gold medals will be decided in the final session of short-track speedskating.

Medals will be award in the men’s 500 meters, the women’s 1,000 and the men’s 5,000 relay. South Korea has won three of the five gold medals decided so far in this sport.

Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

8

USA's Jamie Anderson takes silver in women’s snowboarding Big Air

Women’s snowboarding Big Air final wraps up with Jamie Anderson taking home the silver.

It was pushed forward a day because of predicted bad weather Friday.

The U.S. had four athletes competing in the event including slopestyle gold medalist Jamie Anderson and 17-year-old Hailey Langland, who has won this event at the X Games.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

9

Kristoffersen leads Olympic men’s slalom

Henrik Kristoffersen has taken advantage of rival Marcel Hirscher skiing out to lead the first run of the Olympic men’s slalom.

Kristoffersen, starting immediately before Hirscher, set a fast target of 47.72 seconds. The Norwegian is 0.21 ahead of Andre Myhrer of Sweden.

Kristoffersen and Myhrer won the bronze medals in slalom at the past two Winter Games.

Third-placed Victor Muffat-Jeandet of France has 0.62 to make up on Kristoffersen in the second run in the afternoon. Muffat-Jeandet got bronze in the Alpine combined won by Hirscher.

Hirscher was the favorite to become the first male Alpine skier in 50 years to win three golds at the same Olympics. He won the giant slalom when Kristoffersen took silver.

Most of the lower-ranked racers in a 108-man lineup had yet to start. It included two North Koreans and only three racers from the American team, which did not take its full quota of four places.

Advertisement

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

10

Vonn has lead after downhill in Alpine combined

Lindsey Vonn has the lead after the downhill leg of the Olympic Alpine combined, with American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin right in the thick of things.

Vonn finished in a time of 1 minute, 39.37 seconds. Shiffrin is 1.98 seconds behind.

The race switches Thursday afternoon local time to Shiffrin’s specialty — the slalom. Both times are combined to determine the winner.

Vonn had the lead after the downhill leg at the 2010 Vancouver Games but didn’t finish the slalom.

Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway had the second-fastest time in the downhill and is 0.74 seconds behind Vonn

David Ramos/Getty Images

11

Wise defends title, US gets 3rd halfpipe gold

American freestyle skier David Wise has successfully defended his gold medal, breaking through on his final run to give the United States its third gold in the Phoenix Snow Park halfpipe.

Wise wiped out on his first two runs before sneaking past countryman Alex Ferreira on his third with a score of 97.20. Wise landed double corks in all four directions — front left, front right, switch (backward) left and switch right — a goal he set for himself entering these games.

It’s the seventh gold for the U.S. in Pyeongchang, five of which have come at Phoenix Snow Park. Chloe Kim and Shaun White won snowboard halfpipe gold last week, and Red Gerard and Jamie Anderson won at snowboard slopestyle.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

12

Shiffrin gets silver in combined, Vonn skies out

Michelle Gisin of Switzerland has won the women’s Alpine combined with an aggressive slalom run to edge American Mikaela Shiffrin at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Lindsey Vonn, the leader after the downhill portion, made a mistake early in the slalom Thursday and didn’t finish in what’s likely her final Winter Games.

Gisin was nearly flawless in finishing in a combined time of 2 minutes, 20.90 seconds to hold off silver medalist Shiffrin by 0.97 seconds. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland earned the bronze.

Shiffrin adds the silver medal to the gold she won earlier in the games in the giant slalom.